Chapter 7 - GRANDMOTHER’S STORY
Eleanor Harcourt entered the Harcourt Global boardroom at 6:40 a.m.
She wore a cream suit.
Her hair was immaculate.
A faint bruise had appeared on her wrist where Nathan had stopped her from crushing the insect.
She made certain everyone saw it.
Twelve directors sat around the table.
Several had been pulled from their homes before sunrise.
Some joined through video screens.
Eleanor placed a folder in front of each seat.
“My son is unwell.”
Her voice trembled perfectly.
“He has been unwell for some time.”
The chairman of the audit committee, Robert Chen, frowned.
“Nathan spoke to me yesterday.”
“So did I.”
Eleanor looked down.
“He is very skilled at hiding his condition.”
Another director shifted uncomfortably.
“What condition?”
Eleanor opened the folder.
“Paranoid delusions.”
“Memory loss.”
“Episodes of aggression.”
“And, recently, an obsession with the idea that family members are trying to harm him.”
She allowed the words to settle.
Then she lifted her sleeve.
The bruise became visible.
A woman near the end of the table inhaled quietly.
Eleanor lowered her sleeve again.
“I did not come here to embarrass my son.”
Robert looked at her.
“Then why are we here?”
“Because he controls a company employing forty-eight thousand people.”
She paused.
“And because his five-year-old child is currently in his custody.”
Robert closed the folder.
“Where is Nathan now?”
“Under police observation.”
That was technically true.
“What happened at the estate?”
Eleanor’s expression filled with sorrow.
“Nathan became convinced that his dessert had been tampered with.”
Robert stared.
“Was it?”
“No.”
Eleanor answered too quickly.
“The kitchen found an insect.”
“A disgusting incident.”
“Nothing more.”
She did not know the laboratory had already found chemicals in the cream.
She did not know Vale had been found.
She did not know Nathan was on his way.
The boardroom doors opened.
Every head turned.
Nathan entered.
Inspector Bennett walked beside him.
Two officers followed.
Eleanor’s face changed.
Only for a moment.
Nathan saw it.
Then the grieving mother returned.
“Nathan.”
He closed the doors behind him.
“Continue.”
The directors stared.
Eleanor stood.
“You should be resting.”
Nathan looked around the table.
“I want everyone to hear this.”
Eleanor’s tone became gentle.
“My darling, this is exactly what I was afraid of.”
Nathan almost admired the performance.
He stepped toward the table.
“Mother says I am paranoid.”
Nobody answered.
“She says I imagined someone tampered with my food.”
Again, silence.
Nathan placed a laboratory report on the table.
“They found a sedative and a cardiac medication in the pastry cream.”
Eleanor’s expression barely shifted.
The directors reacted immediately.
Robert took the document.
Eleanor spoke.
“I know nothing about that.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“Ten minutes ago you told them nothing was wrong with the dessert.”
“I was told it was an insect.”
“You disappeared before police arrived.”
“I was frightened of you.”
Nathan laughed.
“There it is.”
Eleanor’s eyes filled with tears.
“Nathan.”
He held up a hand.
“No performance.”
Her tears vanished almost instantly.
Nathan continued.
“The medication found in the dessert was prescribed to you last month.”
Several directors looked at Eleanor.
She stared at Nathan.
“That is impossible.”
“Dr. Vale confirmed the prescription exists.”
Eleanor’s expression changed at the doctor’s name.
“You spoke to Jonathan?”
“Yes.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“He told us about the medication you had him give me.”
Eleanor went pale.
The boardroom became silent.
Nathan watched his mother carefully.
“You drugged me for months.”
“That is a lie.”
“He kept records.”
Eleanor turned toward Bennett.
“I want my solicitor.”
Nathan’s laugh was cold.
“Simon?”
Eleanor did not answer.
“Simon is gone.”
For the first time, genuine shock appeared.
“What?”
“He disappeared from St. Pancras.”
Eleanor stared.
Nathan realized something.
She had not known.
That mattered.
He continued.
“Simon’s investigator tried to take Jamie from the hospital.”
Eleanor’s face became completely still.
“Peter?”
There.
Another mistake.
Nathan stepped closer.
“I didn’t say his name.”
Eleanor closed her mouth.
“You know Peter Lang.”
“He has worked for the family.”
“He worked for Simon.”
“Simon worked for the family.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“Simon worked for himself.”
Eleanor looked around the boardroom.
She could feel control slipping.
So she changed tactics.
“Nathan, whatever Simon has done, it does not change your condition.”
“My condition?”
“The doctors’ reports are genuine.”
“Are they?”
“Yes.”
Nathan turned toward Bennett.
She placed three documents on the table.
“Two of the physicians named in the emergency declaration are currently abroad.”
Eleanor stared.
Bennett continued.
“The third died eleven months ago.”
A murmur moved through the board.
Nathan watched his mother.
She looked toward the documents.
“Simon prepared the declaration.”
“Did you read it?”
Eleanor did not answer.
“You came here waving a document signed by a dead doctor.”
“I trusted our counsel.”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“You expect that excuse to save you?”
Eleanor’s face hardened.
“I am trying to protect this company.”
“From me?”
“Yes.”
Nathan stared.
She finally said it without tears.
Without softness.
Without pretending.
“You are not capable of protecting what your father built.”
Nathan felt years of resentment surface in her voice.
“You always thought that.”
“I knew it.”
“Then why did Father leave it to me?”
The room changed.
Eleanor’s eyes sharpened.
Nathan saw hatred there.
Pure.
Old.
“Because Amelia manipulated him.”
Nathan froze.
“My wife met my father twice before he died.”
“She filled your head with independence.”
“I was thirty-two.”
“You were impressionable.”
Nathan stared at her.
Robert Chen looked uncomfortable.
Eleanor continued.
“You abandoned family tradition.”
“You challenged me.”
“You moved money away from trusts that had existed for generations.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“It was my money.”
“No.”
The word cracked through the room.
Eleanor’s composure shattered.
“It was Harcourt money.”
Nathan became very still.
“There it is.”
She breathed quickly.
Nathan continued.
“You did not see me as your son.”
“You saw me as a custodian.”
“You believed every account belonged to you.”
Eleanor clenched her jaw.
“I preserved this family while your father wasted millions.”
“By stealing?”
Her eyes flashed.
“I never stole.”
“Aster Holdings.”
Silence.
Nathan watched her.
The directors looked between them.
Eleanor’s voice lowered.
“You do not understand those accounts.”
“Then explain them.”
“I do not discuss private family structures in front of police.”
Nathan smiled without warmth.
“They already have the records.”
Eleanor went pale.
Nathan continued.
“Amelia saved them.”
His mother stopped breathing.
That reaction told him more than any confession.
“She left copies.”
Eleanor whispered.
“You found the compartment.”
Nathan stared.
She knew about the compartment.
Nora had said Amelia believed no one knew.
Nathan stepped forward.
“How did you know about it?”
Eleanor realized what she had revealed.
Nathan repeated the question.
“How did you know?”
She looked away.
“Your father built it.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Eleanor sat down slowly.
Nathan’s voice became quiet.
“You knew Amelia hid something there.”
Silence.
“Did you search for it after she died?”
Eleanor folded her hands.
Nathan saw the truth.
“You did.”
Eleanor did not respond.
“You cleared her belongings because you were looking for that envelope.”
Still nothing.
“You never found it because you didn’t have the key.”
Nathan thought of Nora’s necklace.
“She gave the key to Nora.”
Eleanor’s eyes lifted.
Pure hatred flashed across her face.
Nora.
Nathan understood why the anonymous message had told him to ask Nora.
Someone had known Eleanor was hunting for the key.
“Did you threaten Nora?”
“No.”
“Did you threaten Jamie?”
“No.”
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“He told me what you said about Amelia.”
Eleanor’s expression shifted.
“What did he tell you?”
“You said his mother left because he cried.”
Several directors stared at her.
Eleanor looked annoyed.
“He misunderstood.”
“He understood perfectly.”
“I was trying to help him accept reality.”
“You told a child his mother abandoned him.”
“She was dead.”
Nathan recoiled as if she had struck him.
Eleanor continued before realizing the horror of what she sounded like.
“He needed to stop asking when she was coming home.”
Nathan stared.
“You punished him for grieving.”
“I corrected him.”
“You frightened him.”
“He is oversensitive.”
Nathan’s rage rose.
“He is five.”
Eleanor’s voice sharpened.
“And you indulge him.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“He saved my life last night.”
Eleanor froze.
Silence swallowed the boardroom.
Nathan watched her face.
“Did you hear me?”
She did not answer.
“Jamie knocked that pastry from my hand because he saw you put the insect inside.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“He misunderstood.”
“The terrarium was in your room.”
“It was not my room.”
“You had the key.”
“That proves nothing.”
“Your prescription was in the cream.”
“I did not put medication into the dessert.”
Nathan stared at her.
For the first time, her denial sounded different.
Not evasive.
Not calculated.
Angry.
Almost offended.
He remembered Vale’s warning.
Eleanor was not careless.
Someone might have used her prescription deliberately.
“Did you put the insect inside?”
Nathan asked.
Eleanor remained silent.
The room waited.
Nathan repeated the question.
Finally she whispered.
“Yes.”
Several people gasped.
Nathan felt the admission hit him physically.
Even though he already knew.
Even though Jamie had seen it.
Hearing his mother say yes made it real.
“Why?”
She looked at him.
“Because Simon told me it would make you ill.”
Nathan stared.
“What?”
“He said the insect contained an irritant.”
“You believed him?”
“He told me you would become sick for several hours.”
Nathan could barely speak.
“You knowingly put something into my food to make me sick.”
“You were refusing to cancel the audit.”
Nathan laughed in disbelief.
“So you poisoned me over a board meeting.”
“I did not poison you.”
“What would you call it?”
“I intended to make you uncomfortable.”
Nathan stared at the woman who raised him.
Her distinction was monstrous.
“You wanted me vomiting in a bathroom instead of sitting in this chair.”
Eleanor looked toward the board.
“You were about to destroy decades of legitimate family planning over numbers you did not understand.”
Nathan shook his head.
“And the cream?”
“I know nothing about the cream.”
“Vale says there were two substances.”
“I did not put them there.”
“Who did?”
“Simon.”
Nathan studied her.
“Why Simon?”
“Because he prepared the pastry.”
The room went silent.
Nathan stared.
“What did you say?”
Eleanor looked directly at him.
“I did not take a pastry from the kitchen.”
Nathan’s pulse quickened.
“Jamie saw you carrying one upstairs.”
“Yes.”
“Where did it come from?”
“Simon brought it.”
Nathan looked toward Bennett.
Eleanor continued.
“He arrived shortly after six.”
“He said he had obtained the insect.”
“He showed me how to place it inside.”
Nathan felt sick.
“You opened the pastry in the blue room.”
“Yes.”
“You placed the insect.”
“Yes.”
“And the medication?”
“I did not know it was there.”
Nathan wanted to dismiss the claim as another lie.
But the evidence supported the possibility.
Simon’s fingerprint was inside the plate.
Nathan looked at his mother.
“Why was Jamie’s name in the notebook?”
Eleanor frowned.
“What notebook?”
“The one in the blue room.”
“I have no idea.”
“Do not lie.”
“I did not keep a notebook.”
Nathan stared.
“Who used that room?”
Eleanor hesitated.
“Simon.”
Nathan’s mind raced.
“For how long?”
“Months.”
“Why did you let him?”
“Because he had information.”
“About what?”
Eleanor looked around the table.
Her face changed.
For the first time, she looked old.
Not powerful.
Not elegant.
Old.
“About your father.”
Nathan felt his stomach knot.
“What information?”
Eleanor looked at Bennett.
“I want immunity.”
Bennett almost smiled.
“That is not mine to promise.”
“Then I am finished.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“No.”
She looked at him.
“You spent years controlling me.”
“You helped drug me.”
“You terrorized my son.”
“You tampered with my food.”
“And now you think you get to stop talking?”
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed.
“I am still your mother.”
Nathan stared at her.
“No.”
The word came quietly.
“You gave up the right to use that sentence as a weapon.”
Eleanor’s face changed.
Nathan continued.
“Tell me what Simon knew.”
She looked down.
“He knew your father was going to remove me from every trust.”
“Why?”
“He believed I had misused funds.”
“Had you?”
Silence.
“Had you?”
“Yes.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
“Over several years?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor swallowed.
“Approximately forty million.”
Several directors reacted.
Nathan almost laughed.
“Forty million?”
“It was reinvested.”
“In what?”
“Family assets.”
“Assets you controlled.”
“Yes.”
Nathan turned away.
His father had discovered it.
Amelia had discovered it.
Nathan had started discovering it.
Every time someone approached the truth, something happened.
His father died.
Amelia died.
Nathan was drugged.
Then someone tried to poison him.
Nathan turned back.
“What did Simon know about Father’s death?”
Eleanor’s face went blank.
Nathan saw it.
There.
Fear.
Not guilt.
Fear.
“What?”
Nathan stepped closer.
“What did he know?”
Eleanor whispered.
“He knew I was with your father the night he died.”
Nathan’s chest tightened.
“You told police you were at the opera.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because we argued.”
“About the accounts?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Eleanor looked toward the windows.
“He said he was going to the police.”
Nathan waited.
“I begged him not to.”
“He refused.”
“What happened then?”
“He collapsed.”
Nathan’s voice was barely audible.
“After what?”
“After taking his medication.”
Everyone looked toward Bennett.
Then Vale’s name seemed to hang invisibly in the room.
Nathan stared at his mother.
“Did you touch his medicine?”
“No.”
“Did Vale?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Simon?”
Eleanor’s breathing changed.
Nathan noticed.
“Did Simon?”
She closed her eyes.
“He was there.”
The boardroom became silent.
Nathan felt his blood turn cold.
“Simon was in the house?”
“Yes.”
“Why did no one know?”
“Because he left before the ambulance arrived.”
“Why?”
Eleanor whispered.
“Because he told me if anyone knew he had been there, we would both be ruined.”
Nathan stared.
“What did he do?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not good enough.”
“I went upstairs for fifteen minutes.”
“Why?”
“To get documents your father wanted.”
“When you came back?”
Eleanor looked at Nathan.
“Your father was on the floor.”
“And Simon?”
“He was kneeling beside him.”
Nathan could barely breathe.
“What was in Simon’s hand?”
Eleanor hesitated.
Then she said it.
“Your father’s pill bottle.”
A silence followed that seemed to last forever.
Nathan looked toward Bennett.
She was already reaching for her phone.
Eleanor suddenly leaned forward.
“There is something else.”
Nathan turned back.
“What?”
“Simon called me after Amelia died.”
Nathan froze.
“What did he say?”
Eleanor looked directly at her son.
“He said, ‘Now you understand what happens when people stop cooperating.’”
Nathan’s entire body went cold.
Before anyone could speak, the boardroom doors opened.
A security officer entered.
“Mr. Harcourt.”
Nathan turned.
“What?”
“We found something in your office.”
His stomach sank.
“What?”
The officer held a small padded envelope.
“It was delivered this morning.”
Nathan stared.
“From whom?”
“No return name.”
Bennett took it first.
She opened it carefully.
Inside was a USB drive.
And a note.
Nathan read the note.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
ONE DEATH BUILT THE EMPIRE.
THE SECOND PROTECTED IT.
THE THIRD WAS SUPPOSED TO SECURE IT.
Nathan stared.
At the bottom was one final line.
ASK YOUR MOTHER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO DIE AFTER YOU.
Nathan slowly looked at Eleanor.
Her face had gone white.
She whispered one word.
May you like
“Jamie.”
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